


Kurt's Collar

by fhartz91



Series: Taking a Journey Together [56]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Collars, Dom/sub, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, New York City, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 02:16:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12949152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhartz91/pseuds/fhartz91
Summary: When Blaine accidentally trips over something he shouldn't have, he opens a Pandora's box, releasing one of Kurt's biggest secrets to date.





	Kurt's Collar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itallstartedwithharry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itallstartedwithharry/gifts).



> Written for the Klaine Advent Drabble 2017 prompt "genuine", and dedicated to itallstartedwithharry.

Blaine comes across it completely by accident.

He wasn’t snooping in his Master’s things. He wasn’t even looking for anything in the bedroom. A series of unfortunate accidents led him to stumble upon it.

Stumble upon it _literally_.

He was struggling with his bowtie, trying to get the sides even. He didn’t know why he was having such a problem with it today, but no matter how many times he adjusted it, it looked uneven. He couldn’t switch it out for a different one because his Master chose _this_ one specifically for the luncheon they were going to.

A luncheon they were running late for because Blaine couldn’t tie his stupid bowtie!

He’d decided he’d give it one more try before he crawled into the other room and asked his Master for help. He untied it completely, checked the ends to make sure they were even, took a deep breath in and out, then re-tied it. When he pulled the loops taut, he thought he had finally gotten it. He took a step back to get a better look at it - frazzled, frustrated, and determined not to waste any more of his Master’s time. His foot landed on the edge of Kurt’s slipper (which had, during the course of Blaine’s pacing, been kicked away from the bed), and rolled his ankle. As he lurched sideways, fighting to regain his balance, he tipped too far and landed on a small footlocker that Kurt kept beside his dresser. It toppled over before Blaine could catch it, opened, and spilled its contents on the floor.

Blaine is under strict orders not to touch _anything_ in that footlocker, which is why Kurt doesn’t lock it.

No touching is a rule, and rules are expected to be obeyed.

Blaine, being the obedient pet that he is, was on his way to the living room, crawling on his hands and knees, to tell Kurt what he’d done.

That’s when he saw it, lying closest to the open mouth of the footlocker, which meant it had been kept on the very bottom - not where Blaine would never find it, because he wasn’t allowed in there.

But so Kurt wouldn’t see it on accident, not unless he was specifically searching for it.

Blaine picks it up. He can’t help himself. It pulls him to it.

The reason?

Because it _scares_ him.

It’s a collar – a beautiful, well cared for, and _expensive_ looking collar. It’s not quite as lavish as his own silver eternity collar dotted along the outer perimeter with diamonds, but he can tell someone spent some significant money on it. It’s made of rich leather, smooth to the touch, with a sterling silver buckle, and what looks like a sprinkling of sapphires embedded in its flesh. Affixed dead center are initials – _HH_ in white rhinestones.

Blaine gulps.

It’s not just any collar.

It’s a collar of _ownership_.

Blaine’s seen a bunch of different collars during his time as Kurt’s submissive, each with a different connotation from fashion, to play, to life partners. The latter are always the most elaborate, the most precious.

And this one is the genuine article.

But it’s not a symbol of _Kurt’s_ ownership. His initials are _KH_ , like the ones engraved on the collar around Blaine’s neck.

The one beginning to strangle him the longer he stares at the collar in his hands.

“Pet!? What happened? What was that bang? Are you al---?”

Blaine has no time to react – clean up the mess, put the collar away, pretend like he never found it, never saw it. Though he wouldn’t be able to even if he did. He’d never lie to Kurt. Trying to keep this a secret would eventually tear him to pieces.

Kurt races in mere seconds after Blaine hears his voice. He stops at the sight of Blaine kneeling on the floor beside his mess, the collar resting in his open palms. Blaine can’t deny what he’s done, can’t deny that he touched it without his Master’s permission regardless of the circumstances. Even if he didn’t intend on doing anything wrong, he has anyway by not going immediately to his Master when the accident occurred.

Right now, all Blaine can do is wait for punishment to come.

“What happened here, pet?” Kurt asks, followed by a deep sigh as if he can’t do this now, can’t handle this now, whatever it is. But he doesn’t sound angry – not even the tiniest bit. Annoyed, maybe, but not angry.

“I’m so sorry, Sir! I didn’t mean to …” Blaine starts, but bites his bottom lip to stop himself when he sees his Master’s eyes turn cold. Blaine’s rambling apology isn’t protocol. Explanations, clear and plain. Simple answers to simple questions. No excuses. Those are the rules. And Blaine doesn’t want to break any more of Kurt’s rules. “I tripped, Sir. I tried to catch myself, but I couldn’t. I fell over your footlocker, and …”

“Are you alright, pet?” Kurt asks, finally entering the room. “No twisted ankles? No broken bones?”

“I---I don’t think so, Sir. Not that I can feel.”

“That’s good.” Kurt reaches down and takes the collar from his pet’s hands. He glances at it, hanging it from his index finger in front of Blaine’s nose. “I suppose you’re curious about this, aren’t you, pet?”

“I---“ _Simple answers to simple questions_ , Blaine reminds himself. But he doesn’t have a simple answer, because it isn’t a simple question.

And Kurt, knowing his sub as well as he does, understands that. Kurt demands that Blaine be open with him about his issues, his problems, his past. Kurt, on the other hand, has not been as forthcoming. Of course, as Master, he has the option not to be, as long as he doesn’t break the vows he’s made to Blaine - to remain loyal, monogamous, fair, and honest. So an explanation for this has been a long time coming. And seeing as it’s out in the open, now seems as good a time as any, no matter how much he’d rather forget.

But he chose to keep it, so it’s his own damn fault.

“It’s a collar,” he explains, “that represents an intense commitment. But, you’re a brilliant boy, so I know you knew that already.”

Blaine wants to preen beneath that praise, but he can’t. He feels something coming.

Something he won’t like.

“And … it’s mine.”

Blaine swallows hard. He can’t imagine anyone owning his Master. But, apparently, someone has.

The thought doesn’t just break his heart. He suddenly and irrationally feels _betrayed_.

“I don’t wear it, of course.” Kurt turns it over nonchalantly in his hands. “It’s more symbolic than anything else.”

Blaine lowers his gaze from his empty hands to the floor beneath his knees. Even if that weren’t required in this position, he’s not sure how he’d look at Kurt with this new information. He needs time to process first. “I---I don’t understand, Sir.”

“I don’t expect you to, pet. That’s why I kept it hidden.” Kurt turns the footlocker over and sets it back in place. Then he snaps his fingers and points. Blaine sees the gesture over his eyelashes and, without a word, begins picking up the rest of the spilt items. Kurt takes a seat on the edge of the bed and watches him clean up, holding the collar in his hands.

“After my stepbrother died, my father’s stroke, and then his cancer diagnosis, I wasn’t in a good place.” He sees Blaine hesitate in his work, but for only a second as he contemplates where Kurt might be going with his story. What could the outcome be? Kurt is a masochist, but not a submissive. But is it possible that he sought the assistance of another Dominant to help him fight his demons?

Could that Dom have claimed him?

Is that an arrangement that Kurt would be willing to enter into to get what he needed?

But that collar – that collar represents more than an arrangement.

The collar in Kurt’s hands looks almost like a wedding ring.

“I became self-destructive. I wasn’t sleeping well, I wasn’t eating the way I should. I’d stopped caring about myself. I still cared about others. I knew I had to stick around for my father and my stepmother, but it wasn’t really a priority. I was teetering on the edge of a deep precipice, and I wasn’t at all concerned about pulling myself back. My father noticed, from hundreds of miles away, through phone conversations and Skype calls, and he reminded me that without me in the world, he would lose one more reason that he had to take care of himself – to fight the cancer, to monitor his heart. I knew I had to try harder. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I can get a little bit absentminded and emotional when I’m bogged down by work or stress …

Kurt pauses for a response. Blaine smartly doesn’t give one. Kurt smirks. He loves that Blaine is so respectful, so obedient … but it would have been nice to have a reason to give Blaine a spanking.

It would have broken the tension.

“I bought this to remind myself that I belong to someone. That way, when I was driving down the highway between Lima and New York, and I got a sudden urge to drive off the side of the road, I would … you know … _not_.”

Blaine sighs – sad, heavy, full of questions he doesn’t know if he should ask. So when Kurt says: “What is it, pet?” Blaine picks the easiest one. The obvious one.

The most pressing one.

“What does _HH_ stand for, Sir? Who … who is that?”

“It stands for Hudson-Hummel. That’s what our family became after my father married my stepmother. Those were the people I needed to think of whenever I wanted to hurt myself. I mean _really_ hurt myself.”

Blaine’s soft gasp is innocent, endearing. “Would you really … _kill_ yourself, Sir?”

“The thought did cross my mind. I won’t deny it.” Kurt places the collar on his pillow and pats his knee. Blaine shuffles over and rests his head against it. With gentle fingers, Kurt combs through Blaine’s lightly gelled hair, twirling the curls one by one around his fingertips. “But when it did, I’d go to bed, and the next day, the sun would rise, and I would realize there was so much left to live for. That my part to play in this big story we call _life_ wasn’t over yet.”

“I’m glad you did, Sir,” Blaine says. “Realize that there was so much left to live for, I mean. I don’t want to think about a world without you.”

Kurt smiles at his pet. Blaine hasn’t the faintest idea how far within his miasma of depression Kurt was when they met – how huge a part Blaine plays in reminding him every day that there’s so much for him to live for.

“So am I.”


End file.
